31 May 2009

32nd Symposium on Antarctic Meteorites to be HeldTokyo, JapanThe 32nd Symposium on Antarctic Meteorites will be held at National Institute of Polar Research, Tachikawa City, Tokyo, Japan, on June 3 and 4, 2009.

To avoid any misunderstanding I first have to say, that the Suisse searching campaign are exemplary and a success.

"Amateur collectors of meteorites have been accused of inappropriately handling them and inadequately documenting their finds, making life difficult for the scientists who want to study the rocks."

There is missing a "wrongly" and the term "amateur" is somewhat improper.

Because these searchers documented each find with all data, took the geographical coordinates, made in-situ photos, were sometimes describing the properties of the surrounding soils and brought them to the normal classification process, so that they were published by the Meteoritical Society. Furthermore the finds were available to everyone, of course to scientists too and that more readily than e.g. the Antarctic finds with their distribution system.

Several of these searchers were trained geologists and some of them even were employed at one of the leading institutes of meteorites. Additionally many of them were responsible for the earlier desert finds in Libya, before they opened up with their activities the desert of Oman for research.

Another hint, that these searchers should rather be called "professionals" might be their find record. Let's take a look on the lunaites and Martians, because they are highlighted in the article.

These searchers found all in all

78 stones of lunaites, representing 19 different falls, with a combined weight of 10,077 grams.

Martians: The "amateurs" found 3 different Martian meteorites, totaling 12,282grams Suisse teams: 1 stone, 223grams - an additional find of a Martian, where of the amateur searcher had found the 2 years before more than 10kgs.

Nowadays, since a few years, searching and export permits are issued by the Omani authorities only for the Suisse-Oman-team and for nobody else anymore.

A situation, where one could come to the opinion, which is far from being ideal, at least seeing the requirements of planetology and science. A solution could be, to involve the so successful searchers from former times into the official campaigns.

"in fact it was the appearance (and sale) of those rocks"

The commercial argument is proven to be weak. E.g. seen the costs for the expedition, salaries & insurances and the classification and lab equipment, there wouldn't have any difference, if the authorities of Oman would have acquired ready classified chondrites up to 5-10kgs from these private searchers, if I remember their prices correcly. (didn't made the stats, but I would be surprised, if less than 80%++ of all finds in Oman would be ordinary chondrites). And in general, as explained here several times - the acquiring costs of annual World-output of new meteorites by the private/commercial side do not exceed the costs of 3-4 normal midsized research projects in other displines of 1st-World-universities.

"the Oman project is the only long-term search program currently being conducted in a hot desert."

Unfortunately that is true.

Which leads two to questions:

How legitimate or how meaningful are then the restrictive legislation, which was enforced (and which is about to be enforced) in other countries with deserts similar productive like the Omani desert, prohibiting private searching if the research policy in these countries isn't able to conduct continously official meteorite expeditions?

The same type of legislation is planned for the NWA-sector, Possibly leading to similar results.

And secondly, one could feel a wrong weighting of meteorite science, if not more of such expeditions are carried out. Here the article is very good, in outlining, that the research on meteorites is the essential research about the solar system, our origins and in gathering basic information for planetology. Seen the expenses for Earth-bound observatories and space-flight missions, handling similar questions, it is hardly understandable that so few means are used for the search for meteorites and the scientific work on them, as there exist no research on our solar system, which is so efficient like the research on meteorites. To invest in a more sufficient way in labs and expeditions for meteorites, especially for desert meteorites, where the cost compared to the Antarctic campaigns are lower with a factor of 50-100 (and where the find rates are higher) would still be, compared to the budgets of the neighbouring disciplines, nothing else than peanuts.

28 May 2009

EXPERTS at the Allahabad University's department of earth and planetary sciences (EPS) have begun an in-depth study of samples of meteorites that have hit the Indian soil in the last seven years. The study, being undertaken by a team led by Dr J.K. Pati, is expected to unfold the mineral mysteries of these meteorites and help understand the complex process of the formation of planets and the solar system.

The AU's department of EPS also has the unique distinction of discovering the largest meteoritic impact crater, formed between the Mediterranean and Southeast Asia called the Dhala impact crater that could well emerge as the oldest on the planet. "We are studying the meteorites that hit the earth between 2001 and 2008.

This includes Dergaon meteorite from Assam (March 2, 2001), Mahadevpur meteorite, Assam (February 21, 2007) and Sulagiri meteorite, Tamil Nadu (September 12, 2008)," said Dr Pati. He said that these are the pieces of asteroids revolving between Mars and Jupiter.

Dr Pati said that their study is essential to understand the process of formation of planets and the solar system, in general.

Richard Norton passed away last week, after a long illness.I had known fot quite some time that Richard was in poor health, still the news of his death came as a shock. Last time I called Dorothy, I heard piano playing in the background, Chopin and very good, I thought it was a CD playing or the radio, but Dorothy told me it was Richard, and we stopped a moment to listen, it was beautiful, I had no idea Richard was such a virtuoso.I had met Richard and Dorothy several years ago in Tucson, Thanks to Twink. I was very much a new comer then , and I found Richard to be bright, friendly, funny and so approchable. I still remember showing him a slice of Tafassasset, he looked at it with his loupe for quite a while, then told me that this meteorite left him speechless. Dorothy laughed, apparently Richard was rarely speechless.And now there is that great big hole in the middle of the Meteorite Community.

O. Richard Norton passed away at Hospice House in Bend, Oregon, on May 17 after a long illness. A life-long educator and the author of popular books and articles about meteorites, astronomy and planetariums, Richard discovered his life’s passion when he built his first telescope at 14. His love for the sky and all things astronomical led him from an after-school job at Cave Optical Company in Long Beach, California, to a career in public science education.While studying astronomy and meteoritics at UCLA, he was a lecturer at Griffith Observatory and Planetarium in Los Angeles. In 1957 he worked at the Nevada Test Site as a field researcher for the Atomic Energy Commission. There he witnessed the last 10 above-ground nuclear explosions and conducted research at the test site on the ecological effects of radiation. After graduation in 1960, he worked briefly as an optical engineer at Northrop Corporation and Tinsley Laboratories.But he soon returned to his beloved planetariums. After 2 years at Morrison Planetarium in San Francisco, in 1963 he became Director of the University of Nevada’s Fleischmann Planetarium in Reno, where he also taught astronomy. There Richard designed the world’s first 35mm fisheye motion picture system, called the Atmospherium, which was used to project realistic time-lapse motion pictures of developing weather systems onto the interior of a planetarium dome.His first book, The Planetarium and Atmospherium, An Indoor Universe, was published in 1969. He was a planetarium design engineer and consultant for Minolta Camera Company in Osaka, Japan. Richard became the founding director of the University of Arizona’s Flandrau Planetarium in 1973, where he continued teaching and co-designed a fisheye projection camera system which flew on the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1984, producing the first full sky motion pictures from space.In 1978 he started Science Graphics, a company that manufactured sets of teaching slides in astronomy and other sciences for use in college level courses.Richard loved teaching and sharing his enthusiasm for astronomy, the space program, photography, geology and telescope making. He gave public lectures and taught community education classes, even venturing into the Arizona State Penitentiary to teach in maximum security and protective custody. He led field trips to Cape Canaveral, where he had his fisheye cameras at most Apollo launches, and on solar eclipse trips around the world, from Mexico to Romania.In 1986 he moved to Bend, where he taught astronomy at Central Oregon Community College for 7 years. In Bend he rediscovered his early passion for meteorites. His book Rocks From Space was published in 1994, followed by The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Meteorites in 2002. His wife Dorothy Sigler Norton, who is a scientific illustrator, produced the illustrations and cover designs. The Field Guide to Meteors and Meteorites, published in 2008, was co-authored with Bend geologist Lawrence Chitwood. Many of Richard’s meteorites are on display at the Sunriver Nature Center in Sunriver, Oregon.Richard loved classical music and had studied piano since the age of 7. In Bend he started a series of concerts called the Four Seasons, which were held for more than 10 years at the Norton home on the equinoxes and solstices.Richard is survived by his wife Dorothy, his sister Gloria Berg, three children from previous marriages and a granddaughter.

http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/mpec/K09/K09K39.html2009 KC3 it's an asteroid of around 1 Km in diameter with a MOID of 0.00967772 AU and with a very like comet orbit, the 1st and 2nd September 2009 shall be of 15.4a and the 24th and 25th August shall be at 0.049 U.A. from the Earth.

http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2009+KC3+&orb=1At today the object it's only an asteroid but, if it's a dormient comet at the end of August this year we can to have an outburst (probably little) of slow meteors.The orbit it's calculated from an arc of only 20 days, then can change a little.

---Here is what I came up with using the elements from MPEC 2009-K39 : 2009 KC3The asteroid will arrive at the ascending node of its orbit at 20:45 UT on August 29 and the Earth will be closest to the node at 09:15 UT on September 2 (3.52 days after the asteroid). The distance separating the two orbits at that time will be 0.014 AU. Interestingly, going backwards in time, the asteroid's perihelion distance and orbital period seems to increase; a century ago perihelion may have been ~0.17 AU larger and its period ~0.4 year longer. Around 1989, the orbit of Earth and the asteroid virtually intersected at the node. Looking ahead in time, the asteroid's perihelion distance and orbital period will once again increase. In 2109 perihelion may be ~0.18 AU larger and its period ~0.4 longer. In 2028, the asteroid arrives at the node about 20-days AFTER the Earth. Anybody else have anything to add? If there is any material trailing behind 2009 KC3, it appears that the best time to look for any associated meteor activity would be on the morning of September 2, 2009.

Anyone else get a photo of it, or see it around Glen Ellen, California? Glen Ellen is near the center of Santa Rosa-Napa-Petaluma triangle. I am North in Yuba City, California.AMS eyewitness report time is: May 25th, 2210 hrs. PDT, traveling from NW30 to SE90 YCSentinel has a capture of a very bright object travelling slowly apparently toward my zenith FROM the North-West. Sentinel camera timed out at 12 seconds with the object still bright and moving. I thought it might be a slow airplane.....until now!My time is May 25th, 2211:34 Sentinel Light Curve is huge lasting 370 frames before time-out. I have a short (12 second composite picture & a movie) of what I did capture with the Sentinel system.

My 2nd "Handyavi" system has a corrupt file which occured just before this event. (0506 UT time). That corruption may have been caused by this long lasting fireball.I am unable to recover that file unfortunately.YC-Sentinel

Received from Marc Fries PhD. c/c to Peter Jenniskens-- YCSentinel 28MAY09 "I haven't retrieved the radar data for this one yet, but I strongly suspect we're looking at an ISS pass.The following pass is recorded for Sacramento using the Heavens-Above website: 25 May -2.5 22:09:04 10 NW 22:11:59 87 NE 22:12:02 85 E This records a near-zenith pass starting around 2210 and starting out of the NW. Cheers, MDF"

JUST RELEASED! will soon be updated!!!! check backMay 27 at 0228:46 PDT This Fireball appears mid-sky south of North Central California.Characterized by what appears may be the ejection of objects which begin a now visible brief ablation or heating after a short distance from the core on either side.I can only speculate* (*no credentials for this) that PART of this fireball fragmented explosively and it may be that cool fragments reached ablation velocity momentarily. They appear stationary in my images after heating. A possible meteoroid dropping event?

Composite image scaled with a detail insert. The movie clearly shows the ejected(?) particles.Date and time is in the file name: May 27 at 0228:46 PDT

Date-Time 20090527_0228:46 PDT. (0928:46 UT)

Duration = 3 seconds.

Start Azimuth = 186 Deg. true North.

Start Elevation = 58 Deg.End Azimuth 153 Deg.

End Elevation 47 Degrees

Looks like the 90 second event was an ISS satellite pass.

I am hoping I can bring out the positions of the apparent fragments in the composite. If not I will attempt inserts at the top of the composite image showing where they were in respect to the core at their separate visible times.

The movie shows these hot fragments very clear during the event.

The movie shows these hot fragments very clearly during the event.

This Fireball appears mid-sky south of North Central California. Characterized by what appears may be the ejection of objects which begin a now visible brief ablation or heating after a short distance from the core on either side.I can only speculate* (*no credentials for this) that PART of this fireball fragmented explosively and it may be that cool fragments reached ablation velocity momentarily. They appear stationary in my images after heating. A possible meteoroid dropping event?

27 May 2009

When the Buzzard Coulee meteorite fell in Canada last Thanksgiving, Professor Alex Ruzicka was on the case to classify the meteorite.An expert in meteorites, Ruzicka is also the co-founder and director of the Cascadia Meteorite Laboratory, which provides education outreach to people in the area on meteorites. It is the only meteorite laboratory in the Pacific Northwest. ...http://www.dailyvanguard.com/cutting-edge-research-nationally-recognized-professors-1.1754591

A more organic meteoriteScience News Tue, 26 May 2009 13:01 PM PDTSome may contain more formic acid, a precursor to life, than previously thought ...

Meteorite Contains Record Amount of Organic CompoundsredOrbit Tue, 26 May 2009 12:12 PM PDTScientists have reported the discovery of formic acid at record levels in a meteorite that splashed into Tagish Lake in Canada in 2000.Formic acid is the simplest carboxylic acid. It is rich in carbon, and it has been linked to the origin of life. ...

Space rock yields carbon bountyBBC News Tue, 26 May 2009 06:42 AM PDTA meteorite that crashed to Earth in 2000 has shown an abundance of a chemical likely to have been involved in the origins of life. ...

26 May 2009

Students search for space rocksMeridian Booster, LloydminsterThe kids found their first meteorite before the search even started, right by the road while they were lining up in a straight line. (more)...

24 May 2009

Opportunity Reveals Long-time Water, Winds at VictoriaA sizable collaboration of researchers has unveiled an enormous set of data from NASA’s Opportunity rover today — data that testify to the rover’s lucky longevity, and paint a picture of climate events that have shaped Victoria Crater, shown in this NASA/JPL-Caltech image. The climate history is vast and compelling, including dramatic floods and terrain-shaping winds spanning [...]Universe Today - May 22 5:47 AM

Mars was windy, wet and wild in ancient timesWashington, May 22 : The instruments aboard the Rover Opportunity, which are studying the Victoria Crater on Mars, has revealed more evidence of the red planet's windy, wet and wild past.New Kerala - May 22 2:33 AM

23 May 2009

For the first time in Morocco; an exhibition of meteorites will take place at the Amazigh Heritage Museum of Agadir (Morocco) from Tuesday June 2 to Friday 12 June 2009. The exhibition will be led by a specialist who will answer your questions and with samples to touch. This event is organized by the Scientific and Cultural Club Ibn Zohr (C.S.C.I.Z.) and the laboratory of Petrology, Mineralogy and materials of Ibn Zohr University (L.P.M.M.). All lovers of these space random travelers that are meteors (Amateurs, Private collectors and professional from the scientific community) are invited to gather in this magical place in the center of Agadir city. You will be able to admire many meteorites owned by the L.P.M.M. laboratory; understand the phenomenon of meteorites from their fall to their collection in the desert and learn how to distinguish between Chondrites, Achondrites, and Iron meteorites.

New insights from Canadian meteoritesMeteorites, being rocks from space, are solid samples of places in the Solar System to which we cannot easily go. The study of their physical and mineralogical characteristics provides insights into the diversity of processes involved in their origin. Likewise, the conditions under which they fall to Earth provide links to their asteroid or planetary parent bodies. Speakers will discuss new results regarding detection of organic molecules important for life in the unique Tagish Lake, B.C. meteorite (Herd), special conditions of formation of the 1000-year old Whitecourt, Alberta impact crater (Kofman), and the spectacular November 20, 2008 fireball that resulted in the fall of the Buzzard Coulee, Saskatchewan meteorite (Hildebrand).

Participants:Alan Hildebrand Canada Research Chair in Planetary Science, Coordinator of the Canadian Fireball Reporting Centre, Department of Geoscience, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada;

22 May 2009

Cosmic Geology Lands in BerthoudBerthoud Recorder - ‎5 hours ago‎Matt Morgan`s show entitled, “Meteorites: An Intro to Cosmic Geology” gave fascinating highlights of some of the most notable meteorite falls, mainly focused on those (more)...

Two meteorites found in MuzaffarnagarThe Times of India21 May 2009, 1733 hrs IST, PTIhttp://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Two-meteorites-found-in-Muzaffarnagar/articleshow/4560916.cmsMUZAFFARNAGAR, Uttar Pradesh: A Karimpur villager in the district was alarmed when two hot embers fell down from the sky in his compound after rainfall.An expert later said the two pieces found in Shyambir's house compound are meteorites and could be part of a bigger meteor that might have exploded while rushing down the earth's atmosphere."Two small meteorites which fell in the house compound were hot," Shyambir claimed. The pieces, which were found yesterday, weigh about 250 gm and 100 gm, he said. A professor in the field of astronomy and celestial bodies, Deepak Sharma, said the two pieces are believed to be parts of a bigger meteor which must have exploded. According to villagers, the pieces fell down after rainfall in the area yesterday.Some years ago, a big meteorite had fallen down at Kasoli village in the district, weighing about seven kg.

21 May 2009

A NASA-funded study indicates that an intense asteroid bombardment nearly 4 billion years ago may not have sterilized the early Earth as completely as previously thought. The asteroids, some the size of Kansas, possibly even provided a boost for early life. The study focused on a particularly cataclysmic occurrence known as the Late Heavy Bombardment, or LHB.

This event occurred approximately 3.9 billion years ago and lasted 20 to 200 million years. In a letter published in the May 21 issue of Nature magazine titled "Microbial Habitability of the Hadean Earth during the Late Heavy Bombardment," Oleg Abramov and Stephen J. Mojzsis, astrobiologists at the University of Colorado's Department of Geological Sciences, report on the results of a computer modeling project designed to study the heating of Earth by the bombardment.

Results from their project show that while the Late Heavy Bombardment might have generated enough heat to sterilize Earth's surface, microbial life in subsurface and underwater environments almost certainly would have survived.

"Exactly when life originated on Earth is a hotly debated topic," said Michael H. New, the astrobiology discipline scientist and manager of the Exobiology and Evolutionary Biology Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

"These findings are significant because they indicate that if life had begun before the LHB or some time prior to 4 billion years ago, it could have survived in limited refuges and then expanded to fill our world."

"Our new results point to the possibility life could have emerged about the same time that evidence for our planet's oceans first appears," said Mojzsis, principal investigator of the project.

A growing scientific consensus is that during our solar system's formation, planetary bodies were pummeled by debris throughout the Late Heavy Bombardment. A visual record of the event is preserved in the form of the scarred face of our moon. On Earth, all traces of the bombardment appear to have been erased by rock recycling forces like weathering, volcanoes or other conditions that cause the crust to move or change. Surface habitats for microbial life on early Earth would have been destroyed repeatedly by the bombardment.

However, at the same time, impacts could have created subsurface habitats for life, such as extensive networks of cracks or even hydrothermal vents. Any existing microbial life on Earth could have found refuge in these habitats. If life had not yet emerged on Earth by the time of the bombardment, these new subsurface environments could have been the place where terrestrial life emerged.

"Even under the most extreme conditions we imposed on our model, the bombardment could not have sterilized Earth completely," said Abramov, lead author of the paper. "Our results are in line with the scientific consensus that hyperthermophilic, or 'heat-loving,' microbes could have been the earliest life forms on Earth, or survivors from an even more ancient biosphere.

The results also support the potential for the persistence of microbial biospheres on other planetary bodies whose surfaces were reworked by the bombardment, including Mars." NASA's Astrobiology Program's Exobiology and Evolutionary Biology Program and the NASA Astrobiology Institute at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif., through its support of NASA's Postdoctoral Program, provided funding for this research.

The Astrobiology Program supports research into the origin, evolution, distribution and future of life on Earth and the potential for life elsewhere.

20 May 2009

Ancient tsunami 'hit New York'By Molly Bentley, Science reporterBBC NEWS 3MAY09A huge wave crashed into the New York City region 2,300 years ago, dumping sediment and shells across Long Island and New Jersey and casting wood debris far up the Hudson River.The scenario, proposed by scientists, is undergoing further examination to verify radiocarbon dates and to rule out other causes of the upheaval. ...

Oldest Surface on Earth Discovered(Live Science) A new study of ancient "desert pavement" in Israel's Negev Desert finds a vast region that's been sitting there exposed, pretty much as-is, for about 1.8 million years, making it the oldest known vast expanse of surface area. more...

Using the latest discoveries from the geological record, he argues that life might be its own worst enemy.”

“According to the Medea hypothesis, it does. Ward demonstrates that all but one of the mass extinctions that have struck Earth were caused by life itself. He looks at our planet's history in a new way, revealing an Earth that is witnessing an alarming decline of diversity and biomass--a decline brought on by life's own "biocidal" tendencies.”

Washington, D.C. -- The Earth's original atmosphere held very little oxygen. This began to change around 2.4 billion years ago when oxygen levels increased dramatically during what scientists call the "Great Oxidation Event."

The cause of this event has puzzled scientists, but researchers writing in Nature[*] have found indications in ancient sedimentary rocks that it may have been linked to a drop in the level of dissolved nickel in seawater.

"The Great Oxidation Event is what irreversibly changed surface environments on Earth and ultimately made advanced life possible," says research team member Dominic Papineau of the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory. "It was a major turning point in the evolution of our planet,and we are getting closer to understanding how it occurred."

The researchers, led by Kurt Konhauser of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, analyzed the trace element composition of sedimentary rocks known as banded-iron formations, or BIFs, from dozens of different localities around the world, ranging in age from 3,800 to 550 million years.

Banded iron formations are unique, water-laid deposits often found in extremely old rock strata that formed before the atmosphere or oceans contained abundant oxygen. As their name implies, they are made of alternating bands of iron and silicate minerals. They also contain minor amounts of nickel and other trace elements.

Nickel exists in today's oceans in trace amounts, but was up to 400 times more abundant in the Earth's primordial oceans. Methane-producing microorganisms, called methanogens, thrive in such environments, and the methane they released to the atmosphere might have prevented the buildup of oxygen gas, which would have reacted with the methane to produce carbon dioxide and water.

A drop in nickel concentration would have led to a"nickel famine" for the methanogens, who rely on nickel-based enzymes for key metabolic processes. Algae and other organisms that release oxygen during photosynthesis use different enzymes, and so would have been less affected by the nickel famine. As a result, atmospheric methane would have declined, and the conditions for the rise of oxygen would have been set in place.The researchers found that nickel levels in the BIFs began dropping around 2.7 billion years ago and by 2.5 billion years ago was about half its earlier value.

"The timing fits very well. The drop in nickel could have set the stage for the Great Oxidation Event," says Papineau. "And from what we know about living methanogens, lower levels of nickel would have severely cut back methane production."What caused the drop in nickel? The researchers point to geologic changes that were occurring during the interval. During earlier phases of the Earth's history, while its mantle was extremely hot, lavas from volcanic eruptions would have been relatively high in nickel. Erosion would have washed the nickel into the sea, keeping levels high. But as the mantle cooled, and the chemistry of lavas changed, volcanoes spewed out less nickel, and less would have found its way to the sea."The nickel connection was not something anyone had considered before," says Papineau. "It's just a trace element in seawater, but our study indicates that it may have had a huge impact on the Earth's environment and on the history of life."

Possible Meteorite-NOT Found in FieldFOX 4 News Dallas - Fort WorthMon, 18 May 2009 11:05 AM PDTScientists have visited a field in Somervell County to see if a mysterious rock is indeed a meteorite. ...

Collector pays $50,000 for a 5-pound rockChicago Sun-TimesMon, 18 May 2009 07:30 AM PDTThe Garza stone has a new home. The five-pound meteorite that crashed into a Park Forest home in 2003 was bought by a private collector for $50,787.50 Sunday during an auction by Dallas-based Heritage Auctions. David Herskowitz, director of natural history at Heritage, says it's the Garza's provenance that makes it exceptional. "The added value of this meteorite is that it hit a man-made ...

Image: (c) E.R. Degginger/SPLSea creatures had a thing for blingNew Scientist
08 May 2008 by Lewis Dartnell
Call it extraterrestrial bling. Fossilised sea creatures have been found that coated themselves in tiny diamonds created in the asteroid impact that killed off the dinosaurs.
The fossils were discovered by a team led by Michael Kaminski, a geologist at University College London. They went to the Umbria-Marche basin of eastern Italy in search of the fossilised remains of deep-ocean creatures called agglutinated foraminifera. These amoeba-like single-celled organisms build protective "tests" around themselves by sticking together sediment grains from the sea floor. Curiously, they seem to prefer heavy grains, presumably to help them sink to the bottom of the ocean. ...http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19826553.500-sea-creatures-had-a-thing-for-bling.html%22

BUT, if you saw the fireball to the SOUTHEAST, then I would really like to talk to you about what you saw, and in what direction you last saw the meteor end its flight.Please telephone (818)599-5071or email at: bolidechaser@yahoo.com

13 May 2009

Meteorite that crashed into suburban home to be auctionedWBBM Newsradio 780 ChicagoTue, 12 May 2009 06:22 AM PDTPARK FOREST, Ill. (AP) -- A 5-pound meteorite piece that crashed into a suburban Chicago home in 2003 is going up for auction. The so-called "Garza Stone" will be auctioned on May 17 by Dallas-based Heritage Auctions. The rock is named for steelworker and Park Forest resident Noe Garza.

12 May 2009

Better Know A Meteorite Collection:Natural History Museum in Vienna, AustriaWritten by Linda M. V. MartelHawai‘i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology PSRD highlights places and people around the world who play central roles in caring for and analyzing meteorites. Join us as we visit the meteorite collection at the Natural History Museum in Vienna, Austria and talk with the people who help make history and new discoveries come alive. ...http://www.psrd.hawaii.edu/May09/Meteorites.Vienna.Museum.html

Man Unearths Meteorite in SW KansasMay 11, 2009 07:52 AMhttp://www.kwch.com/Global/story.asp?S=10336504Man Unearths Meteorite in SW KansasBy Alana Rocha(KIOWA COUNTY, Kan.)They come from outer space and are embedded in fields across Kansas. Countless meteorites, of all shapes and sizes are uncovered every year here.Eyewitness News traveled to the southwest part of the state to witness the latest discovery and learn what it says about the area.To most of us, it's a field with a rock sitting in a hole in the middle of it. To Don Stimpson, "This is just a tremendously unique area in the whole world."As curator of the Kansas Meteorite Museum in Haviland, Stimpson has no problem explaining why."We just have the streamfield of this meteorite, of this type of meteorite in the whole world," he said.Sunday just east of Greensburg, he was ready to unearth his latest find - a rather odd-shaped piece Stimpson believes is a major chunk of the Brenham Meteorites.Brenham Meteorite HistoryIt took Stimpson and some friends less than an hour to harness it in, test the hold and hoist it out of the ground.It's estimated the meteorite has sat in the ground 20,000 years. And this day is the result of about two weeks of digging and a couple of months waiting on good Kansas weather to lift it out.Stimpson says, "Maybe not everybody is a rock hound, but certainly within that community you can't help but be fascinated by coming out and picking up a piece of rock that came from space."With the meteorite in place, the Stimpsons make their way into town to see how much it weighs."Looks like 1,220 pounds," Stimpson calculates.He says of his find, "That's another one of the main masses from this field. We've found several of them now. It's filling in the science of how this thing came in and broke up there."With a metal detector in hand, Stimpson vows to continue scouring the fields in his area to help fill in the gaps.Stimpson will now spend some time cleaning the meteorite before displaying it in his museum near Haviland.

11 May 2009

Forty Thousand Meteor Origins Across the SkyExplanation: Where do meteors come from? Visible meteors are typically sand-sized grains of ice and rock that once fragmented from comets. Many a meteor shower has been associated with a known comet, although some intriguingorphan showers do remain. Recently, a group of meteor enthusiasts created a network of over 100 video cameras placed at 25 well-separated locations across Japan. This unprecedented network recorded not only 240,000 optically bright meteors over two years, but almost 40,000 meteors seen by more than one station. These multiple-station events were particularly interesting because they enabled the observers to extrapolate meteor trajectories back into the Solar System. The resulting radiant map is shown above, with many well known meteor showers labelled by the first three letters of the home constellation. Besides known meteor showers, eleven new showers were identified by new radiants on the sky from which meteors appear to flow. The meteor sky is ever changing, and it may be possible that new shower radiants will appear in the future. Research like this could also potentially identify previously unknown comets or asteroids that might one day pass close to the Earth.

10 May 2009

Highton explosion may have been meteoriteGeelong Advertiser - ‎20 hours ago‎A NEWTOWN man has described seeing a meteorite-like shower of sparks over Highton the night the suburb was rocked by an explosion. ...

09 May 2009

Fireball may have been a meteoriteTahlequah Daily PressEric Wichman, a private researcher for Meteorites USA, a California organization, said the idea that the fireball may have been a plane or helicopter hasn't ...

Kansas meteorite featured on TV show SundayThe Wichita Eagle Fri, 08 May 2009 06:33 AM PDTNearly four years ago in a flat wheat field in western Kansas, former Wichitan Steve Arnold found a 1,400-pound meteorite. The search and discovery is one of the subjects of an hourlong special that premieres at 8 p.m. Sunday on the Science Channel.

Children of MarsCosmos - ‎2009年5月6日‎by Paul Davies How did astronomer Paul Davies come to propose that life arose on Mars and then seeded the Earth? Here he elucidates a theory that could ...

08 May 2009

NASA searches for meteor fragmentsWALLACE - Ranchers and other property owners in western Calaveras County and eastern San Joaquin County may soon be getting calls from Marc Fries, a NASA scientist.The Stockton Record - May 08 12:05 AM

If you find a meteorite related to the 27DEC08 Merced, CA fireball please leave a comment to this post on this website.

To contact Marc Fries directly:If you find a meteorite that might be from the Dec. 27 fireball or if you saw or heard something that night, NASA meteoriticist Marc Fries would like to hear from you. Contact him at (818) 393-2756 or marc.d.fries@jpl.nasa.gov.

07 May 2009

'Meteorite Men' debuts Sunday at 6Arizona Daily StarThu, 07 May 2009 16:22 PM PDTTucsonan Geoffrey Notkin and Steve Arnold will appear in a pilot for the potential new series "Meteorite Men" on the Science Channel on Sunday.

Meteorite museum adds fresh exhibitThe Pratt Tribune Wed, 06 May 2009 09:47 AM PDTThe Kansas Meteorite Museum fits the definition of rural tourism â located on a dirt road in a community now identifiable only by a faded name on a grain elevator, with a post office address of a town of about 600, yet it contains some of the most recognizable space rocks on the planet, as well as a piece of the freshest meteorite to fall to earth.

A meteorite hunter's reflections on history12:45 am CST Jan 27, 2009 (The Poles.com) The ANSMET meteorite hunters spent their last week in the field waiting for the plane to pick them up. They read Shackleton’s diary while out on the ice and compared then with now and the history of the solar system.MountEverest.net - May 06 8:53 AM

New evidence suggests meteorite did not wipe out dinosNew KeralaTue, 05 May 2009 02:33 AM PDTWashington, May 5 : A geoscientist and her research team from Princeton University have compiled new evidence disproving a popular theory that an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs about 65 million years ago.

Scientist praises meteorite donationSaskatoon StarPhoenixTue, 05 May 2009 00:57 AM PDTWhen Alex Mitchell received a volleyball-sized chunk of space rock, he took it to his local credit union for safekeeping. The 13-kilogram meteorite has since collected a lot of interest.

Farmer donates $400,000 meteorite to schoolThe Globe and MailMon, 04 May 2009 23:57 PM PDTAn asteroid that streaked across the skies over Canada's Prairies last fall dropped a record number of fragments, including a bowling-ball sized chunk worth $400,000 that a selfless farmer has donated - for free - to the University of Calgary.

New Evidence That Meteorite Did Not Wipe Out DinosaursSpaceDailyMon, 04 May 2009 19:02 PM PDTby Staff Writers Princeton NJ (SPX) May 05, 2009A Princeton University geoscientist who has stirred controversy with her studies challenging a popular theory that an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs has compiled powerful new evidence asserting her position.

Alberta-Saskatchewan meteorite find sets recordRegina Leader-Post Mon, 04 May 2009 12:25 PM PDTThe spectacular asteroid that tore through the skies above Alberta and Saskatchewan in November has resulted in a Canadian record for the number of fragments collected from a single meteorite fall, with about 1,000 pieces now recovered.

Princeton geoscientist offers new evidence that meteorite did not wipe out dinosaursEurekAlert!Mon, 04 May 2009 08:29 AM PDT( Princeton University )A Princeton University geoscientist who has stirred controversy with her studies challenging a popular theory that an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs has compiled powerful new evidence asserting her position.Gerta Keller, whose studies of rock formations at many sites in the United States, Mexico and India have led her to conclude that volcanoes, not a vast meteorite, ...

Space rock chunk to land at U of CThe Calgary Sun via Yahoo! Canada NewsMon, 04 May 2009 03:46 AM PDTScientists from the U of C are set to receive the largest chunk of space rock found yet from the Buzzard Coulee meteorite that lit up the skies over Alberta and Saskatchewan in November and landed near Lloydminster.

METEOR SHOWER: Earth is entering a stream of dusty debris from Halley's Comet, the source of the annual eta Aquarid meteor shower. Forecasters expect the shower to peak on Wednesday, May 6th, with as many as 85 meteors per hour over the southern hemisphere. Rates in the northern hemisphere will be less, 20 to 30 per hour. The best time to look is during the dark hour before local sunrise on Wednesday morning. Visit http://spaceweather.com/ for sky maps and details.

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